Last night I saw the movie The Green Hornet. The quick version of my review is that I loved it. I have the original tv show with Van Williams as Britt Reed and Bruce Lee as Kato in my DVD collection, and I even have the original radio show episodes in mp3 format. So yes, I am a nerd. And I am a big fan of superheroes. But those early episodes, while groundbreaking at the time of their original release, seem flat nowadays. No offense. Even the old Superman tv show is dull, and Superman is my favorite. I love it when a new spin is put on an old character, making it relevant to today. I don’t mean simply adding the line “I miss my Nintendo” to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for the movie version, either.

Seth Rogen plays Britt Reed, who is also the title character, as a lovable buffoon who figures things out eventually, but doesn’t lose that childlike naivety that let’s us relate to him.

One of my favorite messages to dole out in life is “Believe in yourself,” but Seth’s character believes in himself to the point that it made me cringe and fear for his safety. His unspoken reliance on Kato (played by Jay Chou) is like a comic book version of a guardian angel, and I kept routing for Britt to recognize and appreciate his need and Kato’s ability and willingness to help, even though it put his own safety in jeopardy.

So yes, I can see it as a story of redemption. Of love. Integrity. It’s also a really fun way to spend a couple of hilarious hours of entertainment. And I just wouldn’t be Timouth if I didn’t mention the 1965 Chrysler Imperial. The Black Beauty is a star of the movie. It’s cooler than the original but maintains the identity of the car from the TV show.

It’s campy, ridiculous, beautiful and my favorite movie I’ve seen in the theater for a long, long time. Bear in mind, however that my favorite movies include the Austin Powers and Brady Bunch films. I came into this movie with low expectations, while I couldn’t wait to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which, for me, bordered between tedious and anesthetic.

The 3-D in Green Hornet was unnecessary, and distracting in my opinion, but a lot of people seem to like it.

I have a feeling the best is yet to come… I know a happy ending is written for me.

Here’s a clip of a new song by Jeremy Chase (Ash Lander), for the New Adventures of Flash Meridian. Check back later for the full song video. ©2011, Slack Action Demos

A beeping alarm woke Flash Meridian as pressure was relieved from the cryo-tube. Consciousness slowly returned while his body was completely relaxed. He just lay there for a while, eyes closed and completely still. The alarm sound continued in the background though Flash’s awareness of it faded in and out.

Opening his eyes, Flash slowly took in his surroundings, though in the beginning he found it difficult to focus.

The computer screen read the current date, 1-14-2114. Could it be? Had he slept ten years? If so, where was he? What could he piece together?

Switching the alarm off, he reached for his radio. “Come in, alpha control”, he said, doubtful that there would be a response.

“Alpha Control” a voice answered. “Your reanimation is nearly complete.”

Flash was perplexed and he tried to remember. He could recall his recent ascent from earth to test the practicality of warp travel… His training which prepared him for the solitude of space… The ship to which he entrusted his life… Everything else was a blur.

The light hurt his eyes and his body felt limp, his mind groggy. Still, he tried to remember. 2114. Could it be?

“Welcome back, Flash Meridian,” came the voice through his headset again. “Relax, it continued, you are on auto-pilot, and we will bring you in.”

Hazy images presented themselves to Flash’s mind, but disappeared before he could recognize them. Like a dream, or the dream of a dream, details eluded him leaving him to wonder whether he was even now, waking or sleeping. In this way, his dream continued to dream him while crews on earth worked around the clock to bring him back.

He continued to hear voices from the control room. Muffled conversations, often overlapping each other. Static, clicks and tones mingled with the heaving of his ship, and he knew he was re-entering earth’s atmosphere.

The number was emblazoned on his retinas… 2114.

Suddenly Flash thought he remembered something. That voice. “Ash?” he asked simply into his radio, it was all the energy he could muster.



“Yes,” said the voice of his friend. “it’s me.” Flash only smiled as Alpha Control, with Ash Lander at the helm, orchestrated his descent.

The next thing Flash knew, he was in a hospital bed, fully awake and feeling fine. He reached for the remote control and turned the tv on. A news clip showed his ship, the Trans-Neptunian Interloper, looking worse for wear after it’s unprecedented voyage. The exterior of the ship was discolored and looked burnt. The craft had served him well over the past ten years. The newscaster reported that the TNI would be refurbished and put back into use, retro-fitted with state of the art components.


Flash was also given a clean bill of health. While he had aged a decade, the cryogenic freezing process made the time seem to pass in an instant.

When he finally talked to Ash Lander again, there was only one thing on his mind. “I want to go back”.


The men talked at length together about their lives, and their unique experiences of space travel.

Flash told Ash about HollyGram. “It seemed so real”, he said, “not like a dream at all”. The fact that Flash was alive and back on Earth was proof of some higher power’s intervention.

“If the universe is truly infinite,” Ash said, “then possibility is limitless. I also had an intervention that I can’t explain. What this tells me”, Ash continued, “is that the greatest adventures and mysteries still await us.”

“When will my new ship be ready?” Flash wondered aloud.

Flash Meridian Volume 1: Episodes 1-15. Includes the Bonus Tracks: Flash Meridian Theme (Young/Elfvin: Sgt. Snowpants), Space Girl (Young/Elfvin: Sgt. Snowpants), Evil Space Flight (Cervenka, Timouth remix: Cloak), Yesterday (Chase: Vanguard), Nomicon Common (Elfvin: Sgt. Snowpants), Space (Elfvin: Sgt. Snowpants), So Far Away (Chase: Vanguard)

Flash Meridian Volume 2: Introduction and Episodes 16-30. Includes the Bonus Tracks: Flash Meridian Theme Remix (Young/Elfvin), Perigee/Apogee (Young/Elfvin/Cervenka), Red Moon (Young/Elfvin), Dear Jesus Please Let Me Find Some Space Clothes (Elfvin/Elmquist), Kryo-Tube (Young/Elfvin), Dripping From The Heavens (Elfvin), Eclipse (Chase)

Flash Meridian CD ROM: Episodes 1-31, Read by the Author, with an original musical score

Flash Meridian Fan Club CD ROM: Includes photos, interviews, music, software, trivia and lots of other behind the scenes goodies

Flash Meridian Volume 1 and 2 instrumental soundtrack, written by Jeremy Chase and performed by Vanguard.
1. Flyin’ High (Opening Theme)
2. Dreaming On A Sleepless Night (Flash’s Theme)
3. Prophecy
4. She Flies (Crystal Weightless’ Theme)
5. Untitled
6. Guiding Light (Dock Galaxy’s Theme)
7. The Awakening (Nebula X’s Theme)
8. War
9. Love’s Shore (HollyGram’s Theme)
10. Eclipse
11. Train’s A Coming (Mars Theme)
12. Bad Kind of Way (P. J. Raygun’s Theme)
13. Paradise (End Theme)
14. Tonight
15. Yesterday
16. Breathe (Sly Wormhole’s Theme)
17. Awakening/Radio Intro

All Discs copyright 2000 Slack Action Productions

Red Moon and Perigee/Apogee were also released as CD singles, and included the Flash Meridian Theme Instrumental Dance version

I found this image on the internet, and it’s labeled “space-toilet.jpg”

It reminds me of a song I wrote called “Kryo-Tube,” which was performed by Knarwhal and appears on the Flash Meridian Volume 2 CD. The song is about what’s in the picture.

We can’t NOT communicate. I knew this, but was reminded of it in my textbook reading this week. We’re constantly sending non-verbal messages even when we don’t say or write a word. So this got me thinking about when I partook of the services of Hair Club. Yeah, I did that. But at the same time I was telling the kids I mentored that they are unique and special just as they are. I also had braces on my teeth. It made me feel a bit hypocritical until I realized that we all present ourselves in ways that are comfortable and unique to us. Like the song says, “accentuate the positive.”. While my skin is flesh colored, it is not hypocritical to wear the color blue. Or to wear makeup. Even to make a more permanent change like straightening your teeth, getting a tattoo, a facelift, a circumcision or something less tangible like speech therapy, which was also imposed upon me when i was very young, as though it were a necessity.  My brother, on the other hand was allowed to maintain his lisp. The fact is, nothing stays the same. Not our bodies, not our minds. We change and change, usually so gradually every day that we don’t notice it is happening. Then we look at an old photograph or meet up with an old friend we haven’t seen for decades, and the changes are obvious. We still exude our true selves in thousands of ways, though today our true self differs greatly or slightly from our former manifestation.

So what is my point?  My daughter and I watched a movie last night in which one person played several diverse characters, differentiated by accents, costumes, mannerisms, hair and makeup. And it occurred to me that this is a microcosm of our lives, in a sense. And Flash Meridian?  Flash is a character created by me, and in some ways is an allegory of me, but created 10 years ago when I had hair stuck on my head. So Flash has hair, and I found myself stymied when it came to recreating him. Would Flash have lost his hair?  Would he have to wear a helmet all the time?  Maybe, but not the way I saw him returning. I want Flash to still be Flash. So I ordered him some hair online, and thought I might as well create some other characters as well, to be portrayed by me. We have the ability to make changes in our appearance, our habits, our diet, our level of education as well as many other facets of our lives. Some changes are permanent while others are adopted for a certain time, occasion or purpose. 

I am currently taking a public speaking class online. I have to give speeches, videotape them and upload them to my teacher and class. What if I wore a blonde surfer guy wig in my uploads?  What if I wore different clothes than I would normally wear?  No one there knows what I normally look like. It’s just something I’m finding interesting to think about. What if a surfer dude  puts on a suit and dress shoes to attend a wedding or funeral. Is it a costume?  I think so. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

Flash n. 1. a sudden, brief outburst of flame or light. 2. a sudden, brief display of joy, wit, etc. 3. an instant. 4. ostentatious display. 5. Journ. a brief telegraphic dispatch… 11. to communicate instantaneously.

Meridian n. 1. Geog. a great circle of the earth passing through the poles and any given point on the earth’s surface. 2. Astron. the great circle of the celestial sphere which passes through its poles and the observer’s zenith. 3. The highest point.

THE AMERICAN EVERYDAY DICTIONARY. Copyright 1949 (1955 edition)

I was looking at the budget shop today for a space book. I saw some that I didn’t like, then I happened to pick up a dictionary from 1955. Not only was this book about space, but the first entry I read was specifically about Flash. I was so pleased and enlightened by reading the definition that I wouldn’t leave the store without it. Imagine finding a 55 (56) year old book for a quarter which validates you with “a brief display of joy or wit.” I now see that is exactly what I was going for. All the various meanings seem to fit.

This might be a good time to share a Flash Meridian story that involves the budget shop at the recycling center (the Gunflint Mall). Ten years ago I drove there with a group of local musicians/Flash Meridian particiPANTS in the car with me. We were on a quest to find space clothes for a photo shoot. As I pulled into the parking space facing the front door, I quietly recited my FM shopping mantra, “Dear Jesus, please let me find some space clothes”. Rain Elfvin (Sgt. Snowpants, hence the earlier capital letters) laughed so hard he nearly peed his snowpants. I simply pointed out that it works for me to say that. I forget his exact skeptical response, but I believe it was something to the effect of “That’s hilarious.”

We walked into the shop, and there hanging on the wall facing us was a Darth Vader costume next to a robot costume. True story. I believe in asking the universe for things. I believe that putting the positive energy out there is better than negative, and to some extent we actually increase the possibility of achievement by having the faith or audacity to ask for it.

Not long after that Rain asked if he could use that prayer as a song title. “Dear Jesus, Please Let Me Find Some Space Clothes” by Rain Elfvin and Sean Elmquist appears as a bonus track on the Flash Meridian Volume 2 CD.

A couple of years ago I was talking about this with Elliot while prepping food at the Angry Trout. I demonstrated my revised mantra for him, and I quote. “Dear Universe, if it’s not too much trouble, please let me sell a painting today. Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation in this matter.”

Elliot’s response was similar to Rain’s. He laughed. Within a few minutes, there was a knock at the locked front door of the cafe. I opened it to a lady I had never met before. She apologized for interrupting us, but said she and her family had dined there the night before. She said she had seen a painting and wondered if it would be possible to purchase it before they left town. I turned around to see Elliot standing in shock, and proceeded to get a ladder to take the painting down for her.

“Dude!” Elliot said. “Why don’t you ask for a million dollars?” I explained that that would not be a reasonable request, and it made me think of the old fairy tale about the Fisherman and his Wife, by the Brothers Grimm.

I wish you joy and wit… err… I mean, I ask the Universe to fill you with joy and wit this new year.